Some enhancements to the tab navigation

I have made some changes to the navigation box on the left (or on the right for those of you who have changed it in your preferences). Starting now, the box will "follow" you as you scroll down the page. This way it's always available for you to click.

I also added a "DG Homepage" link to the bottom of that box. This way, no matter where on the site you are, you can always click on "DG Homepage" and be brought back to the home page.

dave

Spooky! I tried tricking it but it's following me! Gaahh!

ackkk....it's alive!!

cool Dave :)

I can't seem to open up many of my diary( now blog) entries. They are still there as I can see them when I go to change the order of them but I can't scroll down past the first few. Thanks, Patti

Yep, I just noticed that too, Patti. Otherwise, I love all of the changes.

Patti, wow - I didn't foresee the problem of the box being too big.

So, for now I've removed the automatic follow.

dave

I found the automatic follow way too distracting - reminds me too much of dancing figures on ads or blinking lights.

Can we disable it ourselves?

I've removed the automatic follow.

I DO NOT like the box on the side...do we have a choice of getting rid of it???...hope so.

Me, neither.

Thanks, all fixed and I like it a lot so far. I am happy with the navigation box on the left, and I see I can change it to the right if I so choose. Cool. Patti

If we remove the box altogether, how on earth will you get to all the different parts of the site???

Hi, Dave, Thanks!

What a surprise when I opened DG! I did my usual checking around for new posts and it took a few minutes to sink in what you had done. I like the new forum list. Much better than 2 lists.

The communities box makes for easy access, so might even start a journal now. I moved the box to the right though...much better for me! I like it better that it doesn't follow now...too distracting for me.

Robin

Dave - use drop-down menus on each of the tabs. That way you don't need the box. This was mentioned several times on the other thread, but ignored.

I'm planning on drop down menus as a preference, but almost certainly not for this week.

I sure like the purple on the d-mail page. But then purple is my favorite color.

Dave that sounds perfect!

I like the navigation box much better moved to the right side...since all of the extra stuff on my homepage on the right side, it just seems to naturally belong there. Thanks for all you do Dave :-)

I like the new changes, but second the drop down menus. Don't you love us :/ That would give you the scalability you need w/o taking away a huge chunk of real estate, tho. It would also be alot more programming work (which needs to be looked at- we do know you have a family and a life outside of DG, honest we do) What you have now is great! Drop down menus would be like getting whipped cream w/ a cherry on top of an already perfect sundae.

Dont much like it - probably because I rarely if ever go to areas other than the forums. And it does take up a lot of space. I think drop down menus are much more efficient

Moving it to the right helps, not sure why it would make a difference, but visually it's night and day.
click: My tools (on top), Preferences (box), Navigation- drop down menu- right side

I just want to go on record of saying what's been on my mind all day today.

I posted a request for help on planning this thing out over 5 weeks ago:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/743828/

I understand legitimate concerns and complaints, but I solicited feedback long ago. It's much much harder for me to change things after the fact than before.

Please, in the future, participate in the discussions here and try to give advice and concerns BEFORE the discussion is closed and work begins.

Doing otherwise is the equivalent of not attending your town's traffic management planning meetings, but then complaining after the new 8 lane highway is finished...

Dave

(clap, clap, clap)

*hangs head* sorry Dave :(

Thanks, Dave! FYI: I was following all the suggestions that people were making about changing the site, and I liked the way everything was falling together so I made no comments. Here are a couple of posts that were made on the thread to which you refer regarding drop-down menus:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3695066
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3695223

There was a little discussion on the thread re this, but not much.

Marilyn

Dave, I can not speak for all of the community but I wholeheartedly appreciate your efforts to make this place better for us. And a great place it is. I know I am not alone.

Box on the right, box on the left, following box, anchored box, drop menus or not, it's all fine with me. The dinosaurs became extinct because they couldn't adapt. I WILL NOT go the way of the dinosaur.

Resistance is futile, the gods decided to laugh, live long and prosper, don't sweat the small stuff, sic transit gloria mundi are all part of my way of life.

Sylvain.

:)

I thought FAQ had gotten lost in the shuffle. Then I discovered it's necessary to go to a forum to get to FAQ. Does anyone agree it was more convenient having access on the Home Page, especially for non subscribers or newcomers?

Is it supposed to be Products and Services or Products and Sources? It appears both ways. :)

That is odd. I also think that FAQ should be on one's home page, even for those of us who've been around a while.

I did follow the discussions but I think that I just assumed there would be a drop down from each new tab. When we visualize things we don't always "see" the same thing. I was giving more consideration to what you were planning on each tab. Sorry!

As with anything new, it takes a while for the old dogs to learn the new tricks. I like(d) the follow, as it saves a bunch of page up clicks to get back to the tabs.
As usual you will have a tough time satisfying all of the DGers, all of the time.

Dave,

I just sent you a d-mail asking about drop-down menus. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of the thread you referenced or I would have seconded ecrane3's post.

Having built several websites for others and not getting feedback until the deed was done I can truly relate to the feelings of aggravation and frustration this has to cause for you.

My 'excuse' is I got sick again about that time http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/743229/ . But one of the bigger reasons is your thread got lost to me in the enormity of the forum.

Would it be possible to make a notation on threads where you are strongly wanting feedback about changes?

Grateful for this site and all that you do to make it all that it is,

Donna

Dave- I like all of the changes.
For me it opens up a whole new picture of all the great people here with the blogs, journals and trades. So much easier to look at everyone's hard work and all the discussions are nice and handy on one page.
It also points out to most of us that the discussion forums are just a small part of what is going on here. We tend to only look at a handful of the same stuff everyday and we miss so much. I had a great time "discovering DG again. Thanks! Cyndie

Dave:

On your mini rant...I have been a software developer for 14 years now. I have learned long ago that it is a good idea to ask end users for feedback but it is a bad idea to expect that you will get much useful information. People will look to you to be the software design and development expert.

On this topic...Amazon has a lot of good ideas to follow. At one point they used to have tabs along the top for each "store" but they had to abandon that when they ran out of room. They have a navigation panel on the side similar to your's but Amazon's takes up less room. Then when you drill down to a particular item there is no side navigation. Instead the item takes up the entire page width.

Actually, the more I look at the navigation panel the less I see its usefulness. Say I am looking at the Daylily forum page. I see a link to the Daylily forum which I am already in. There is a link to the main Forums page which could easily be at the top of the page. If I wanted to go to the Gardening Blogs, Journals, Plant and Seed Trading or Member List pages I would just click the Communities tab at the top. There is already a tab for DG Homepage.

- Brent

Just a little hard for us computer challenged to get use to. Moving the drop down box to the right helped. And I agree don't want to be a dinosaur. Just taes a while till I'll get settled in. You also always give plenty of help and good directions for us computer challenged. I've always felt comfortable here at DG for a lot of reasons, one of which is all the great support I have receaved in many areas. Holly

Thanks, Dave. Once I moved the navigation box to the right side I was a happy camper.

June

With the revisions to the tabs how can we find the past articles??

Paul

Here ya go Paul - http://davesgarden.com/guides/

Articles are first on the list :)

Dea

DUH!!!

I went right by it.

Thanks

Back in the day.....I had a manager of a grocery store tell me that the maddest the lady of the house... (that really dates me...men didn't grocery shop)..... could get was when they rearranged the grocery isles.....this was long before computers made all the decisions and there only 3000-4000 items in the store....whew....was there actually a time like that....well, anyway, change is difficult but most always...good....sure that you never imagined the number of "grocery isles" and "products" when DG first became available. This is your baby. Don't give us so much input.....we don't really know how to do it and you do. After a bit we wander around and find items we didn't know were there (same as in the grocery store) and our experience is enhanced with even more information. Didn't come to DG to be a computer guru....came to learn about gardening.....in the interim....have learned about people in general... and it's all to the good.....made some e-friends and expanded my knowledge of a great many things. Have learned that the more I know......the more I need to learn. First thing I read every morning while the coffee brews and the last thing I read before I go to bed and say my prayers. Trying to tell you I vote for any and all the wonderful widgets you add and subtract. Fully understand that this your media for creating just as gardening creates joy for all of us. Would hug your sweet neck if I ever get to meet you......don't worry.....I am old enough to be your grandmother.

Christi Lou